Exit polls: Putin wins Russia's presidential vote

Published: March 4, 2012 12:32 PM

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MOSCOW (AP) -- Prime Minister Vladimir Putin won Russia's presidential election on Sunday, according to exit polls cited by state television, but the vote was tainted by widespread violations claimed by the opposition and independent observers.

Putin tallied 58 percent of the vote, according to a nationwide exit poll conducted by the VTsIOM polling agency. Another exit poll done by the FOM polling agency showed Putin received 59 percent of the ballot.

Official vote results from the far eastern regions where the count was already completed seemed to confirm the poll data. With just over 14 percent of all precincts counted, Putin was leading the field with 62 percent of the vote, the Central Election Commission said.

But if thousands claims of violations made by independent observers and Putin's foes are confirmed, they could undermine the legitimacy of his victory and fuel protests. The opposition is gearing up for a massive rally in downtown Moscow on Monday.

Golos, Russia's leading independent elections watchdog, said it received numerous reports of so-called "carousel voting," in which busloads of voters are driven around to cast ballots multiple times.

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Alexei Navalny, one of the opposition's most charismatic leaders, said observers trained by his organization also reported seeing extensive use of carousel voting.

Evidence of widespread vote fraud in December's parliamentary election drew tens of thousands to protest against Putin, who was president in 2000-2008 before moving into the prime minister's office due to term limits. They were the largest outburst of public anger in post-Soviet Russia and demonstrated growing exasperation with massive corruption, rising social inequality and tight controls over political life under Putin.

The Communist Party candidate, Gennady Zyuganov, got support of some 18 percent, according to the exit polls, and the others -- nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Sergei Mironov of the socialist Just Russia party and billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov -- were in single digits.